I don't know, as one these articles put it, maybe McCain is trying to control the flames he spent time fanning earlier.

McCain is really something of a growing enigma in this race, at least to me. I do feel that somewhere deep down, John McCain is a decent man, but the experience he keeps flaunting over his opponent is indeed a strength but also I feel his greatest weakness. He's been in politics for too long, bought and sold by the establishment, and as president might not be able to really do the right things even when he means to. He might not be able to tell the truth even when he wants to.

Palin on the other hand hasn't done a thing to convince me...set in there to appease the 'Hillary crowd' that wanted a woman in office (but not just any woman), I'm glad to see that many voters are smarter than that, and aren't settling for this cheap trick. They're pushing her as the hottest governor from the coldest state, and yeah she's attractive because she's a dead ringer for Tina Fey. Now, I think Tina Fey is fricking awesome, she's a creative genius, I love girls with eccentric humor and personalities like Sarah Silverman and Cameron Diaz, and I must admit a personal desire to bend Tina over a table and *ahem.... but do you really think that this is going to make me vote for Sarah? Her cutsey little hockey mom bullshit hasn't won me over in the slightest, if anything it enrages me every time I see it. What simpletons they must assume all voters to be...talk about out of touch.

Anyhoo, I think these are worth looking at. The varying takes on McCain are about as mixed as my own opinions and instincts on the man, and that's what concerns me here.

I remember watching that clip of McCain at the rally when it was featured on CNN. I just had to shake my head. I mean, I'm trying to keep an open mind with this election. I support Obama, but I'm not one of those rabid "Obama is a saint, McCain is the devil incarnate" type of guys. I think John McCain has plenty of experience, and really would do a decent job as President if he could go back to being the "maverick" he was back in the 1980s and 90s.

However, it's been between 10 and 20 years since then, and he's changed. I don't think he's ready to let go of the REpublican agenda as President, which I think is what he would have to do in order to be effective.

At any rate, that video made me wince, because you could just sense the McCain campaign completing its implosion as the crowd started booing their own candidate. If he can't even control the people who, according to them, support his cause, and convince them to be civil human beings toward another human being, how in the hell can he be expected to bring people together and encourage cooperation between the parties? I get the feeling now that a win for Obama is all but guaranteed, barring some massive trip-up.

I had hoped for another close race to bring out true discussion between people on both sides, but I guess I hoped for too much.

I think the dirty politics of Karl Rove in the primary against GW Bush broke that camel's back. I used to have some respect for McCain, but since he lost that primary he's become a spineless yes man in my opinion, and it's sad because I really did respect him before then. Brave New Films has put together some videos about him that I found pretty informative. As always, view with a grain of salt, but they raise points that can't be avoided, imo.

I support Obama, but I'm not one of those rabid "Obama is a saint, McCain is the devil incarnate" type of guys. I think John McCain has plenty of experience, and really would do a decent job as President if he could go back to being the "maverick" he was back in the 1980s and 90s.

However, it's been between 10 and 20 years since then, and he's changed. I don't think he's ready to let go of the REpublican agenda as President, which I think is what he would have to do in order to be effective.

Well I've never put an election into black and white like that, at this point I guess I'm speaking in every sense of the phrase, but I'm certainly not an Obama groupie or anything so silly.

Obama I can say I believe in, I might even go so far as to call it faith in the man. At some point, politics being as fucked up as it is, you have to have a little faith in someone. The alternative is to assume everyone is bought and corrupted, and then the only thing left is not to vote because it's all doomed to implode anyway.

This is not to say McCain has never done any good, but that's the thing; I think he's a 'maverick' only in name now, not really in action in recent years. His age is not my concern; it's the fact that he's been entrenched in politics for a very long time now and I feel he's long since been compromised. Obama says it time and again, but I really do fear that to elect McCain is to get the 3rd Bush term. Nothing will change.

I guess if you could sum up these opposing campaigns in one word each it would be maverick and change, except only Obama feels legit at all to me. Yes he has less political experience, but his past record indicates the man gives a damn and has the will to try and push for some change in how things are done from the top. My opinion is that his relative lack of time in Washington is highly overblown. I mean, technically the minimum age for the president is 35, last I checked, and obviously at 35 your political history can only be so in-depth. If it's a problem then why make it that young in the first place?

The president is actually five jobs in one. For example, the commander-in-chief. I think some voters are making the mistake that since McCain has been to war and saw the ass-ugly end of it in a POW camp that it automatically will make him a better commander-in-chief and I'm just not convinced. Draw a line at any angle through the Asian continent and I fear you'll hit at least three countries McCain has a bone to pick with. That we don't need.

I think based on what he's selling, Obama is the real maverick here. So it comes down to what you want. A real maverick in office that means to change some stuff, or a so-called maverick who has lots of experience but no real evidence he's going to try for a significantly different track.

I agree that McCain is going to hold onto the Republican agenda, and a political analyist said it nicely, once the revolution is just in there to hold onto power, it's over. The GOP has had their shot, and they've screwed things more than ever in the past 8 years...it's time for Bush Senior's New World Order to go out with the Old Trash.

*groan* Not the maverick thing again. Please no? Even these people don't want to hear it anymore.[youtube=425,344][/youtube]

I may be Canadian, but I keep an eye on American politics. And why not? I spent nearly two years living in the US, my husband's American, and my sons qualify as American citizens as well as Canadian. I've been impressed by Obama's comportment and actual willingness to put forth his proposed policies and plans, and I've been less than impressed with McCain's giving anything but the vaguest of plans, concentrating instead on his smear campaign against Obama.

Honestly, it's time for the Republicans to close down shop and put the storefront up for rent. The last eight years of mismanagement coupled with the current, blatant fear- and hate-mongering and publicity-monkeying above focusing on the issues people want to hear plans on just go to show that the party has been broken by its representative politicians. And with the McCain campaign degenerating into what can only be called a bemusing fiasco, I'm beginning to wonder if the GOP is being run by a third-rate circus.

Another party will fill the void left by the Republicans. Maybe even one that isn't going to screw up everything they touch, like we've been seeing for the last eight years. Maybe even one that isn't going to try and make people afraid of something just because they don't like it, like universal health care and labor unions.

I'm Canadian, and liberal by nature (even though I don't usually vote for the Liberals), so it's hard for me to wrap my head around some of the political realities in the United States, even though I've lived there and been affected by some of these policies. I don't understand not having basic universal health care. I don't get not having preventative medicine. I don't get giving all the breaks to the wealthy minority, who need them the least, and only having a few trickle down into the overwhelming majority of workers, who can use them the most. I don't get not having a helping hand when you need it. I don't get banks fleecing people out of money by selling them homes they can't afford at rates they can't pay, and having the stock market come dangerously close to a crash as a result.

I don't get your politicians spoon-feeding you what opinions you should have, whether you asked for them or not. I don't get running a campaign as a hate-mongering thing -- and not condemning your supporters at your rallies for screaming "traitor", "terrorist" and "kill him" about your opponent is nothing BUT hate-mongering -- and I don't get why fear of pretty much everything has to be America's greatest product.